The Beatty Track team appears to have started where they left off last spring. Beatty is the defending Division IV state champion and this year Hornets Coach Jerry Adcox has returned with nearly 50 team members.
According to Athletic Director Leo Verzilli, close to 65 athletes out of 100 Beatty students are involved in the two spring sports Beatty has, track and baseball.
The track team was at the Bulldog Early Invitational and the team dominated the Division IV teams there. The Hornets competed against 10 other teams and finished 5th on the men’s side and 4th on the women’s side overall, but took first place among the Division IV teams.
Beatty beat Tonopah, Pahranagat Valley and Lund. The team also went up against some good Division I-A teams. The I-A teams were Virgin Valley (the host school), Moapa Valley and Desert Pines. Division III teams present were Andre Agassi, White Pine and Lincoln County.
Look for the Hornets to be weak on sprinters, but strong in middle distance, long distance and field events this season. Last year the Hornets were fierce competitors in the pole vault and only practiced at meets because they didn’t have an operational pole vault pit at home. Strong field events are what allowed Beatty to take the state championship as a team last year.
“The pole vault situation changed this year thanks to Superintendent Dale Norton, who made sure we had a pole vault pit and what we needed for track. He was able to provide new equipment so we will be able to have home track meets starting next year. This year the football field is under construction so we won’t be able to do it this year,” Verzilli said.
On the men’s side, Beatty also is looking to dominate in the 400-meter run with a sophomore and two freshmen, Matt Woods (1:02.05), Isaias Femat (1:04.10) and Nahum Favela (1:04.46).
The Hornets also have middle distance runner, sophomore Enrique Orozco. He took first place overall at Mesquite last week with a time of 2:12.56 in the 800-meter run. This time is decent enough to beat most I-A teams. Nick Nelson, Trojans 800-meter runner had a time of 2:13.50 at his last meet. Orozco also took first overall in the 1,600 meter with a 4:58.92 time.
Another good runner for the Hornets is 3,200-meter runner senior Michele Grisofi, who took first overall last week also with a time of 11:21.66.
Adcox said last year that he only needed seven more boys to contend for a men’s title and he may just have it this year.
For the womens team, the Lady Hornets have some new sprinters, Rosa Gutierrez, Jessica Eastman and Earie Davis.
In the 800-meter run, junior Sinai Hernandez (2:56.07) returns along with senior Ashley Granodos (3:01.86). Both finished on top of the Division IV runners.
In long distance is where the Hornets have a good tradition of talented runners. This year they have Zuri Pimentel and her sister Ruth returning. The two will be joined by freshman Jasmin Pelayo. Pelayo (13:36) is a great addition and finished in first place in the 3,200-meter run at Mesquite. She edged out Ruth (14:04). The two runners finished first and third overall.
In the long and triple jumps, look for senior Christina Thompson to fill the void of losing Melynda Gross.